SCAMMERS, THIEVES & LIARS
MILLIONS MEET THE CRUELLEST CON ARTISTS WHO SWINDLED
MI5 MASQUERADE
When British barman, car salesman and bogus MI5 agent Robert Hendyfreegard decided to lure his victims into believing they were at risk of assassination and in need of protection, he made a motza! Coercing his victims into going underground for fear of their lives, Hendy-freegard duped several people into isolating themselves before fooling them out of millions. He moved his prey from one ‘safe house’ to another until 2002, when Scotland Yard and the FBI found him. At the time, he had been scheming against his American girlfriend – child psychologist, Kim Adams – who had lived in the UK before vanishing with him. The FBI were investigating her disappearance and teamed up with the Metropolitan Police to trace the couple. With the help of Kim’s mother, who agreed to fly to London and meet Hendyfreegard to pass on £10,000 to her daughter, he was snared and arrested.
Hendy-freegard denied all charges, but in 2005, he was given a life sentence for two counts of kidnapping, 10 of theft and eight of deception. He appealed his kidnapping convictions two years later and won, resulting in his life sentence being revoked and his release in 2009.
Later, the con man – who was now going by the name of David – won the affections of separated mother-oftwo, Sandra Clifton. Together, they disappeared in 2014, leaving her children behind. Sandra was located and questioned by police the following year, admitting she knew who her lover was but planned to stay with him.
Her long-suffering offspring have since taken part in a Netflix series, The Puppet Master: Hunting the Ultimate Conman, chronicling Hendy-freegard’s deception in the hope it’ll encourage their mum to come home.